Chapter 8 - Hank Put Lila’s Name Into the Investigation
Three weeks later, the state requested a formal interview.
Leah attended with Hank.
The investigator asked straightforward questions.
How did he obtain the memory card?
Had he altered the files?
Did Lila ever discuss the foundation with him?
Did he know she transferred personal money to scholarship families?
Then came the question Hank had feared.
“Do you believe your wife knowingly approved transfers inconsistent with donor restrictions?”
Hank looked at Leah.
She did not answer for him.
“No,” he said first.
Then stopped.
That was not accurate.
He corrected himself.
“I think she approved transfers she believed were temporary and legitimate.”
The investigator waited.
“And later?”
Hank looked down.
“I think she realized some should never have been made.”
“Did she report that?”
“Not formally, as far as I know.”
“Why not?”
“Because she was afraid she’d be blamed too.”
The investigator wrote something.
Hank felt physically ill.
He had just put his dead wife’s mistake into an official record.
Then he remembered Rosie asking:
Was Mommy bad?
Truth did not become loyalty simply because somebody had died.
Hank continued.
“She also tried to stop later transfers. She kept records. She paid families from our own money.”
“Do you consider those repayments?”
“I don’t know what she considered them.”
That distinction mattered.
The interview lasted two hours.
When Hank walked outside, Victoria was standing across the street with her attorney.
She saw him.
He saw her.
Neither crossed.
That night Victoria issued another parent communication.
It stated that “a former volunteer’s historical bookkeeping irregularities” were under review.
She did not name Lila.
She did not need to.
The community already knew.
Hank’s phone exploded.
He turned it off.
Rosie was building a blanket fort in the living room.
He crawled inside.
“Daddy?”
“Yeah?”
“Are people still saying things about Mommy?”
“Yes.”
Rosie considered that.
“Can we tell them to stop?”
“I wish.”
“Why can’t you?”
“Because some things have to be checked first.”
Rosie leaned against him.
“Mommy always said checking twice is how you don’t mess up.”
Hank laughed quietly.
“She definitely said that.”
Rosie smiled.
Then his chest hurt.
Lila had checked everybody’s numbers twice.
Except the first time she trusted Victoria.
The next morning Hank made another irreversible decision.
He authorized Leah to provide investigators with Lila’s personal emails, including ones that showed she had initially defended the transfers.
Not selected emails.
All relevant emails.
Dana called after learning.
“You gave them everything?”
“Yes.”
“That could make Lila look responsible.”
“She was responsible for part of it.”
“Hank.”
“What?”
“You don’t have to help them build a case against your wife.”
He looked across the shop at Rosie coloring beside the reception desk.
“I’m not building a case against Lila.”
“Then what are you doing?”
May you like
Hank answered:
“I’m making sure Victoria doesn’t get to decide which version of Lila survives.”
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